Airship.



` J. I.`0. CLARKE.

AIRSHIP.

AIPLIOA'rIoN HLBD JAN. 17, 1907.

l 989,834, Patented Apr. 18,1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

'fo all whom it may conc-em lell'ccts are obtained the machineinstead of by the employment Parana ormoni.'

.Tessina r. c. CLARKE, or Naw YORK, N. Y.

'AIRSHIR Application Be it known that I, JOSEPH I. C.' CLARKn, a citizen of theUnited lStates, and 'a resident of New York, in the county of New Drk and State of New York, with postbilico address 159 West Ninety-fifth street, have invented certain new and useful Improveniente in Airships, of which thev following'is a speciiication.

y invention relates to air ships of' a.

class in which the elevating and sustaining by the use of a motor on y of gas bags.

, machine in the `.The principal object of my invention is to secure the elevation or suspension of the atmosphere in a simple and e ective manner; and so as, also, to insure equilibrium or stability against tipping or iving of the machine.

My invention relates to a novel construction of apparatus for utilizing an ascenevatmg action to the under side of an aeroplane.

The object of my invention is to secure stability by directing the current of air from o these ends novel constructions hereinafter more particularly described and then specified in the claims.

The said aeroplane may be of any shape: that is to say, it may, in general, be flat or angular, oval, rical ligure. y

In. constructing the apparatus, any sired material having the requisite lightness and strength :may parts which act u on the air may bethin or exible materia stretched upon a suitable framework. l

The details of mechanical construction, or

of building up the structure the samel generalwill not be, therefore, set forth Specification of Letters Patent. filed Janus ,y 17, 1807. Serial No. 352,751.

my invention consists of the plane to vary the direction of the intaken current of air.

The invention consists further in the spe- Vcial constructions and combinations of apthe claims. drawings, Figure l is a side elevation of an apparatus embodying my invention.

tral section through same Fig. 3 vis a plan view of the machine. Fig. 4 is a rear ele vation.

so as to have the requisitevstiffness. 'aeroplane as shown is preferably of a general concave or conical form. From said aeroplane or, its framework, the car or basket 3 for the operator is sustained by the guy ropes or cords 4 in any suitable manner and 1n such osition as to bring the center of gravity ot the sustained parts near the center of the horizontal area of the aeroplane.

fan, blower, the wings or vanes 6 of which are secured to and rotated by the Vertical above and force such air out from below, the air-blast plane, owing to the fact that the blower is cased in beneath by the case or horizontal Hoor 8 fixed to or framework and forming in effect a continuation of the' casing openings 'at .9 bein provided for egressV of :the air to the un erside vof the aeroplane Patenten Apr. is, rain Fig. 2 is a vertical cens aft 7, and by rotating at high speed inv orming a part of the 5 beneath the blower,Av

near its apex. The blast thus receive/donl lthe undersideof thev aeroplane' is preferably 'l directed to the edges thereof by means of anunder aeroplane between which and the upper aeroplane 1, the air currents pass to the edge where they are directed 1n a downward direction and outwardly in any suitable way as by constructing the double aeroplane, so that the edge of the upper portion 1 shall overhang the edge of the lower 'of air expelled in a ring land far removed from the of the whole apparatus the machine in a to the maintenance of vstable position or a position of equilibrium,

and avoids lar ely anytendency to dipping or swaying. etween the two .aeroplanes ma be located any number of stay pieces 12 whlch maintain a space between them for the circulation of the air. At12 these stayv pieces mayfbe multiplied or may be extended n on radial lines so that' the air expelled from in the direction-of the arrow a.

ing 4lthe vertical changing the lwhich 13' may beneath the blower shall be prevented from taking a spiral path and shall bey caused to circulate on direct radial 'lines to the edges of the aeroplane.

The inta en current of air is preferably received through a hood 13, the mouth of e-direete'd in a straight hori-.' that the intaken current to propel the machine Said hood, however, is so constructed thatby partially collapsing it, mouth. 13 may be thrown back more or less so that the intaken current may ass into the blower ina direction approachv ast/vvould be the case if the mouth 13"we1;e ./th rown ba'cl to the osition. indicated byVV the dottedfiline 14.' i y thus /angle of intake in avvertical plane, theliftinf,y or. elevating as compared with theA propu sive eii'ect in a horizontal direction will be obviously increased, there' by making it possible to cause the machinev to rise in a vdirect 4vertical line, or to take a direction more or less .inclined tov the vertical. The construction of the hood which vwill permit rthe variation o the angle of int'akeimay be such as indicated in the drawings or may be anything desired. In the'fo'rm shown, lthe intake is ajolding structure made of ribs 15, piv'oted at 16 and covered with flexible material, the construczontal direction so shall operate in part 4'tion being such that the hood may fold up when operated extend over suitable guldes'lS and are conmore or less like a fan or like -a carriage top by means of cords '17 which basket 3 andvare there suitabl as to be capable of manipu ation by the 1 The valve may be' reactive effect of actlon -rial and may be set ,tion by' any preferred pllances,

nected tothe ribs of the structure as -lshowm These cords 18 'are extended to the car or arranged so operator. The vertical shaft 7 for the elevating blower may be run by a motor 19 of any suitable construction on the car, said shaft having proper bearings in the frame of the machine.

To securepropulsion in a horizontal direction, I prefer to employ a second blower' or air propeller 20 which may be of the fan t eor .of any other suitable form, and w ich acts by drawing in air at the forward end of the marchine, and Vexpelling' it through a horizontal tube 'or tubes 21, the exit or egress ends of which are indicated at 21. The blower 20 has an operating shaft 22 also mounted in the framework and operated by a motor located on the car and suitably belted or geared to said blower.

When two tubes 21 are employed, I may use a valve 23 for directing the blast of air taken in by blower 2O into-one orthe other of thetwo horizontal egress tubes 21. Inasmuch as the are located respectively at opposite sides of the horizontal axis. of the structure, it is obviousthat by directing the current into one or the other of said tubes, the reaction of the escaping air may be made effective upon one or the other of the sides of the machlne thus causing it to turn in a horizontal plane and thus cianging its direction of movement. turned by the operator through suitable cords or connections carri to the caras indicated. In ,addition 'to the means described for directing the movement lofthe car both vertically and horizontally,

I may employ as a steering device a'horizontal air egress tube having a flexible air egress end or mouth 21 which may be turned in'any direction horizontally or vertically to 'change the direction in which the To permit this jacent air shall be expended.

ed 10o the blast upon the circum- I 110 the end portion or section of the tubev 'or tubes 21 may -bemad of flexible mateor turned in any direc formof mechanism controllable or operable from the car 3. As typical of such devices, 26 connected to the flexible tube ends and extending over suitableguides on a frame 27 to the car where ,they are attached or connected preferably to permitting l'one side of the tube to is applied to-the cord at the oppositeside in changing the lposition of the mouth of the. tube` By lthese various devices, the machine may be steered effectively and: certainly. e l' What I claimas my inventionis:

1. Thev combination substantially as 'described, of a conical aeroplane, a

the cord' connected case rising' I have shown cords' from the edges of an opening at t-he apex thereof, a blower located in said case, a 'loor forming a closure beneath said blower and openings for conducting the air blast to the under side of the aeroplane around the opening at its apex, as and for vthe purpose described.

2. Inan airship, the combination of a Ver-- tical air propeller having anoverhead intake and means for changing the angle of intake in a Vertical plane to vary the ascensional or horizontal motive effect of said blower.

3. The combination of an aeroplane, a blower having a vertical intake and deliv- 15 ering air to the underside of the aeroplane and a hood for the blower collapsible to vary the vertical angle of intake as and for the purpose described.`

Signed at New York in the county of 20 New York and State of New York this 11th day of January A. D. 1907. Q

JOSEPH I. C. CLARKE.

Witnesses:

C. F. TIscH'NEn, Jr., LILLIAN BLOND. 

